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OP, it sounds like you are moving forward, albeit in baby steps. I have been an agent for nine years so, trust me, I completely understand the frustrations of dealing with difficult sellers, uninformed and ill-prepared buyers, combative personalities, and incompetent or inattentive agents.
The best advice any agent can give to a buyer or seller, IMHO, is to compartmentalize their personal feelings (frustrations, judgments, impressions of having been abused or ignored, anger, a desire to get even or "teach them a lesson", etc.) and to focus on the end game which is, of course, to get the deal done. If that was not the goal, then shame on the seller and agent who put the property on the market. If that was the goal, then do everything you can to accomplish the goal and forget the garbage.
OP, it sounds like you are moving forward, albeit in baby steps. I have been an agent for nine years so, trust me, I completely understand the frustrations of dealing with difficult sellers, uninformed and ill-prepared buyers, combative personalities, and incompetent or inattentive agents.
The best advice any agent can give to a buyer or seller, IMHO, is to compartmentalize their personal feelings (frustrations, judgments, impressions of having been abused or ignored, anger, a desire to get even or "teach them a lesson", etc.) and to focus on the end game which is, of course, to get the deal done. If that was not the goal, then shame on the seller and agent who put the property on the market. If that was the goal, then do everything you can to accomplish the goal and forget the garbage.
I hope it works out well for you.
I think this is a very one sided interpretation. The seller is not obligated to be willing to do anything and everything to sell his house. He would have happily closed and moved on already had the buyer and her agent performed as agreed under the contract.
But now he is in limbo, waiting to see if this deal really comes through. He is not trying to cancel the contract, he is saying that at some point, he will walk away due to the buyer's continued failure to be able to close. He is not desperate to sell, so rather being in a situation where he would relist the house if the deal falls through, he would de-list instead. That is a perfectly reasonable choice particularly when he has advised the agent of that. Yeah, sure, it's unfortunate for the listing agent if there is no sale, but if the buyer can't buy, the seller is completely within his rights to decide not to look for another buyer or to continue extending and living in limbo waiting to see if the buyer ever gets her act together.
I think this is a very one sided interpretation. The seller is not obligated to be willing to do anything and everything to sell his house. He would have happily closed and moved on already had the buyer and her agent performed as agreed under the contract.
But now he is in limbo, waiting to see if this deal really comes through. He is not trying to cancel the contract, he is saying that at some point, he will walk away due to the buyer's continued failure to be able to close. He is not desperate to sell, so rather being in a situation where he would relist the house if the deal falls through, he would de-list instead. That is a perfectly reasonable choice particularly when he has advised the agent of that. Yeah, sure, it's unfortunate for the listing agent if there is no sale, but if the buyer can't buy, the seller is completely within his rights to decide not to look for another buyer or to continue extending and living in limbo waiting to see if the buyer ever gets her act together.
I wrote "do everything you can" not "do everything", and I didn't say that there was a obligation in a legal sense. I suppose I could have worded it "do everything that makes sense" or similar but I thought it was understood. Obviously, if a buyer insists on a new roof when one is not needed, for example, I would never expect a seller to agree to it. Waiting another week or two, though, to try to get a loan to go through is not on the same order of magnitude as an unreasonable request. Loans are tricky and stuff happens, many times completely beyond the control of the buyer. A seller who refuses to deal with the issues that can sometimes arise is a seller who is likely to be wasting everyone's time including their own. All I am saying is that sellers (and buyers) should be flexible and keep their eye on the prize and, in this case, it means the OP should (not must) give this buyer a reasonable amount of time to make it come together rather than declaring the deadline was missed and that's that.
Regarding relisting or withdrawing following a failed contract, the customer is always right as far as I'm concerned, especially if it was discussed ahead of time. If that agent was willing to waste time and money marketing a house for a seller who wasn't really dedicated to selling, that is their business. I'll admit, though, that I think it is an absurd way to approach the sale of one's property...and I say that as a listing agent who has been through it before hoping that it wasn't a waste of my time and money. I was wrong. That's what makes the world go 'round, I suppose.
Don't try and fix the world. That isn't your job. If the price is good and you think it will get across the finish line if you wait a week, and you really will be happy selling for that price, do the deal.
That being said, don't feel obligated to sell a house you don't want to sell. All this talk trying to make you feel guilty for changing your mind is bunk.
If you changed your mind and the buyer has missed a deadline... Good for you. Take the earnest money and walk away. You don't "owe" it to anyone to sell your house unless you decide it is in your best interest. I don't care why you changed your mind. It could be that the housing market took off. It could be you lost a job and don't want to upgrade anymore. It could be that you just flat out got scared. Who cares? If your contract expires, and you don't want to extend it, WALK AWAY. Don't let people guilt you into doing something not in your best interest when you have no obligation, legal or otherwise, to do so. That is why we put dates on contracts! That way there should be no question about it.
As for the other Realtors on here that are trying to make you feel bad for your Realtor... ignore them. You don't owe your Realtor anything. Would your Realtor have given you half the commission back if it a buyer walked by your house before he put any effort into it, knocked on your door, and offered you your list price? No, he would have taken his entire cut, saying, "you knew this is how it worked when you signed the contract." Well... he put the contract together, so you had better believe that he understood it. I don't know why contracts are all that matters when it works out to one sides benefit, but they are only what your are "legally required" to do (implying you also have ethical requirements) when it falls on the other side of the fence.
I think this is a very one sided interpretation. The seller is not obligated to be willing to do anything and everything to sell his house. He would have happily closed and moved on already had the buyer and her agent performed as agreed under the contract.
But now he is in limbo, waiting to see if this deal really comes through. He is not trying to cancel the contract, he is saying that at some point, he will walk away due to the buyer's continued failure to be able to close. He is not desperate to sell, so rather being in a situation where he would relist the house if the deal falls through, he would de-list instead. That is a perfectly reasonable choice particularly when he has advised the agent of that. Yeah, sure, it's unfortunate for the listing agent if there is no sale, but if the buyer can't buy, the seller is completely within his rights to decide not to look for another buyer or to continue extending and living in limbo waiting to see if the buyer ever gets her act together.
Dang - this is on the money. Thanks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jswanstr
Don't try and fix the world. That isn't your job. If the price is good and you think it will get across the finish line if you wait a week, and you really will be happy selling for that price, do the deal.
That being said, don't feel obligated to sell a house you don't want to sell. All this talk trying to make you feel guilty for changing your mind is bunk.
If you changed your mind and the buyer has missed a deadline... Good for you. Take the earnest money and walk away. You don't "owe" it to anyone to sell your house unless you decide it is in your best interest. I don't care why you changed your mind. It could be that the housing market took off. It could be you lost a job and don't want to upgrade anymore. It could be that you just flat out got scared. Who cares? If your contract expires, and you don't want to extend it, WALK AWAY. Don't let people guilt you into doing something not in your best interest when you have no obligation, legal or otherwise, to do so. That is why we put dates on contracts! That way there should be no question about it.
As for the other Realtors on here that are trying to make you feel bad for your Realtor... ignore them. You don't owe your Realtor anything. Would your Realtor have given you half the commission back if it a buyer walked by your house before he put any effort into it, knocked on your door, and offered you your list price? No, he would have taken his entire cut, saying, "you knew this is how it worked when you signed the contract." Well... he put the contract together, so you had better believe that he understood it. I don't know why contracts are all that matters when it works out to one sides benefit, but they are only what your are "legally required" to do (implying you also have ethical requirements) when it falls on the other side of the fence.
Also good comments. You are right about fixing the world. They say that in defensive driving. Don't try to get back at people while you are driving. But there's just something about paying for poor performance that rubs me the wrong way.
You said, that the Lender said due to this being a holiday weekend, that they have not finished the paperwork, so it cannot close on time. Sounds like the lender will be doing the closing as they are the ones with the paper holdup. Sounds like the holdup, is the lenders, not the buyer.
If the lender is the holdup, and they say the problem is they have not gotten the paperwork finished, cancelling and keeping the deposit only hurts a single woman buyer.
If the lender will give assurance when they will have the paperwork completed by say next Tuesday, and that it will close, why not go along with it and finish the sale.
If on the other hand, they cannot give you a guaranteed close date, it means that there are still problems getting the final loan approval, and they are just stalling to wait for it to be approved. Lender may only be acting as an agent for another lender, who will be the one actually funding the loan in this case. They may be having trouble finding the lender who will be buying the loan and are stalling as they wait to find the loan buyer. Whatever the reason, they are stalling if they cannot give you a final date for a closing.
We decided to extend one more week to close this Friday - tomorrow.
Quick background. Buyer wants FHA loan, however we disclosed foundation issues - which FHA does not deal with - unless it's fixed within such and such days (203b rule I think).
So money is held (escrow holdback) with the title company designated for those repairs, along with contractor info on who is doing the repairs.
So today my agent calls and says the title company is declining to underwrite the money for the repairs. They don't want nothing to do with it. So my agent tells me that this isn't great, but the risk is on her - and suggests we bring a check to the table and give it to the buyer, which circumvents the escrow holdback w/ the title company.
My gut feeling is to walk away and say no thanks. Any advice on this? I hope I explained this correctly. Why would title company remove themselves?
So the end of the story is we are terminating the sales contract. The buyers - at least the agent - is a scammer, probably in collusion with the title company and lender.
Here's what we believe to be...
Here's the background again
Quick background. Buyer wants FHA loan, however we disclosed foundation issues - which FHA does not deal with - unless it's fixed within such and such days (203b rule I think).
So money is held (escrow holdback) with the title company designated for those repairs, along with contractor info on who is doing the repairs.
203B rule is the key here - because we were initially led to believe the foundation would be addressed to meet FHA loan requirements. However, I looked up the 203B rule, and foundation repairs are not allowed under this rule - only minor repairs under $5000. So there was a slight of hand there...
With regards to the escrow holdback, we were working separately with a lender upon purchasing a new home, and he told me that in general lenders are not doing those anymore because buyers can't be trusted to get the agreed upon repairs done. So the whole escrow holdback that we were presented with was probably a lie from the start.
I had spoke to the buyer's lending agent (on 8/27) who told me all paperwork was in order and everything was OK, only processing had to be done and it takes longer over Labor Day weekend - now all of a sudden today, they don't want to underwrite the escrow holdback. Throw in the fact that they told the title company (instead of himself) to inform my agent about this today - the day before closing... and now the only way to make the deal work is that WE have to write a check for the amount that was in the fake escrow holdback and give it to the buyer for the "repairs" to be done. Not happening.
You can see that if we had started up a contract on buying another home - how that would have put us in a bind. Thankfully we were patient and did not agree to purchase another home - so we can freely tell them where they can go.
It sounds as if this is a title company communication problem, and not a lender issue. The buyer's agent may have extended his incompetence into not fully informing the title company of what they were trying to do (keep the funds in escrow) and the title company found out when they got the lender's paperwork and said "NO".
I sold a house in the same general region as you 3 years ago. It needed a new roof, and I didn't have the cash to pay for it. The title company held that portion of the funds from the sale in escrow and paid the contractor directly. I wouldn't have handed a check to the buyers either.
It does sound potentially sketchy. I think given all the aggravation you've been through already, combined with the fact that you don't *have* to sell, it makes the most sense to walk away.
Just curious how much the foundation work is going to cost, though. It may make sense for you to go ahead and get it taken care of yourself, so that when you do decide to sell down the road, it will no longer be an impediment to finding a buyer.
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